Why does Obama want to screw us on this Pacific trade deal?

[Cyrano]

Intuitively, it seems as though this Pacific trade treaty will cost lots of American jobs, so I really don’t get it.

It seems to me that Obama’s peddling a load of Big Business garbage. He doesn’t have to run again. Whose interest is he serving?

And why hasn’t he made the deal public? Why is it a secret? Why doesn’t anyone seem to know the details? I really, really don’t get it.

Given that the GOP could (possibly) win/steal the next presidential election, why does a Democratic president want any part of this deal? Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but it seems to me that all that most Americans get out of this deal is fucked.

Really, does anyone know why he wants this deal so badly? Can someone enlighten me?

[LondonReign2]

1. Screw us? Only Obama could be such a visionary to team up with Mitch McConnell

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Because he is angling for post-presidential jobs

Bill Clinton went from massive debt to a 7-8 figure net worth since leaving office. That was a gratuity from Wall Street for ending Glass-Stegall.

[HassleCat]

3. Could Be

You might have something there. If Obama doesn't cozy up to big-money interests, he'll have to go back to lecturing at a law school or something. Sure, he could collect honoraria and speaking fees, but he would have to travel and work. Besides, he'll be doing that anyway. It would be a nicer deal if he could join a couple Wall Street firms who would pay him millions just to use his name on the letterhead. He could show up two or three times a year and wow the clients while enjoying a retreat at some private island. Sweet deal. It will be interesting to see what pie he chooses and how big a slice he carves out when he retires.

[Cyrano]

4. I, personally, believe that Michelle would

castrate him if this was all about post White House riches.

No ex-president, in this day and age, will go wanting. Obama seems to have come to the White House with a set of principles. I find it hard to believe that he's selling out to add a few more million to what is already guaranteed to the millions available to ex presidents.

Then again, maybe I'm naive enough to believe that he doesn't want what seems to be what most of our species wants. -- MORE.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. His "principles" haven't gotten in the way

of murder by drone, keeping innocent people in Guantanamo, prosecuting whistle-blowers, torturing Guantanamo prisoner by force feeding them, his failure to prosecute Wall Street bankers or war criminals and most recently, approving drilling in the Arctic by Shell Oil.

[enough]

11. Indeed. (nt)

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Yep,

As soon as a president leaves the White House he can expect an 8 figure book deal. Then he'll be offered dozens of board positions with name companies at six figures, just to show up twice a year. Speaking fees are generally going to go for six figures as well, not to mention consulting fees. Then there are TONS of non-cash perks: Private planes, vacations, gifts, doctorates, statues, awards, etc.

[ananda]

6. Obama has always veered right economically.

He's from the Rahm Emmanuel DLC wing of the Reep-lite Dems.

[Kelvin Mace]

8. It's the political philosophy that pays best

[ananda]

12. ... and hurts the poor and working classes the most.

Sigh

[cali]

9. I think he's heavily invested in it and forging a success in his final WH years-

legacy stuff.

But job loss isn't close to being the worst part of the tpp.

[enough]

10. He has thoroughly and completely absorbed the mindset and worldview of

the wealthy of the world.

I don't think it has to do with personal aggrandizement (though he has surprised me many times since he became President). I think he believes what the wealthy believe: that great agglomerations of money must be free from external constraints. To my mind, this is a form of insanity (and worse, stupidity), but within the circles he inhabits, they all believe it.

[treestar]

13. Because he's not

Repetition on the internet does not make something true.

[Cyrano]

14. Not what? I don't understand what you're saying.

[sufrommich]

15. I think it has more to do a worldwide the shift in economic power

more than anything else. Asia is on the rise and surpassing the U.S. as an economic powerhouse,he's trying to stem that power.I don't think the TPP will solve that problem but I also don't think he's doing it for nefarious reasons.The U.S. is a great military power in a world that no longer sees military power as a necessity for a prosperous country.

[HereSince1628]

17. Yes, and what would that do? Drop the US as the world currency?

Make paying off on treasury notes, MUCH more difficult.

Who is holding so much in US Treasuries? Gee, China's near the top of that list

[GeorgeGist]

16. I think he eats the bullshit ...

he's being fed.

[pampango]

18. 3 possibilities: he's stupid, he's a smart and greedy, or he believes in it.

1. He has not idea he is being played by the 1%. Even his enemies do not think he is stupid.
2. He is in the job for the power and money. He sees a rich future retirement ahead if he caters to the 1%.
3. He actually believes that TPP is a model for future trade agreements that would be better for the middle class. Maybe he is wrong. Maybe he is right.

I haven't heard much from Democratic congress people that they believe #1 or #2. They just seem to think he is wrong about #3.

And why hasn’t he made the deal public? Why is it a secret?

Presidents do not make international negotiations public while they are still ongoing. Obama did not make the Iranian negotiations public. They are still being negotiated in Switzerland. The same with the negotiations with Cuba to lift the embargo.

TPP is still being negotiated. The other countries do not want to make a "final" deal on the details of the agreement with Obama only to have to later renegotiate the "final" deal with congress. If fast track passes these countries know they will not have to renegotiate the final deal again. The negotiators from countries with parliamentary governments know they can pass the "final" deal in their parliaments without any 'legislative renegotiation'.

I suspect the Iranians would have felt the same way. Why offer a 'final deal' to Obama if congress is just going to use that 'final' deal as a starting point to wrangle more concessions out of them?

[dawg]

19. President Obama has been consistent.

He has consistently trusted the counsel of centrist business leaders over that of liberal economists from academia.

I think he believes the practical knowledge business leaders possess easily trumps the theoretical knowledge possessed by professors and policy wonks. Deep down, this is a variant of "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"

The President is an author and a legal scholar. He isn't a numbers man. If he were, he might have a better sense of the rabid self-interest that pervades everything being pushed by his business "advisors".

But he trusts them.

The same way many of us trust him.